I had a depressing convo with a friend who's scared of going on her long-planned trip back home to a Muslim-majority country, to see her family including a terminally ill grandmother.

Instead of being paralyzed, I took this motivation to call my elected officials. I was prepared to call all 9 offices for Schumer and Gillibrand each and not get through on any. Lo and behold, I talked to staffers after only a couple tries! They were thankful and said to keep calling.

Gillibrand has gotten a lot of support for voting no. Schumer's staffer told me he was voting no on a list of nominees and that nobody is aware of it. Interesting that people know Gillibrand is on our side, but the ostensible minority leader is so wishy-washy that even people calling his office don't know his votes. (He has gotten more vocal recently.)

They also said letters do get counted and passed on to the DC office.

I of course got through to my Rep. That's never been a problem.

I told them all I was with Indivisible. Gotta get that name visibility!

Is it proper to block Supreme Court nominees that haven't been announced? I completely understand cabinet appointments that are terrible, but is it a good policy to preemptively oppose SCOTUS nominees based solely upon the party nominating them?

Off topic. You are not supposed to question the thread's Dear Leader.;)

But, yes. I understand your viewpoint. We know it's going to be one of two people, though. Trump has also made clear what he is looking for in a judge. And after Republicans stonewalled Merrick Garland for that long, Democrats need to be committed to obstructionism.

For those like me who have GOP Senators and Congressman, thank them if they take a stand even if only half-hearted like one of my GOP Senators did. I thanked him for speaking up about the travel ban and urged him to fully condemn. Maybe if we also thank them when they show they have a spine, more might be willing to find their spines??

I had a depressing convo with a friend who's scared of going on her long-planned trip back home to a Muslim-majority country, to see her family including a terminally ill grandmother.

Instead of being paralyzed, I took this motivation to call my elected officials. I was prepared to call all 9 offices for Schumer and Gillibrand each and not get through on any. Lo and behold, I talked to staffers after only a couple tries! They were thankful and said to keep calling.

Gillibrand has gotten a lot of support for voting no. Schumer's staffer told me he was voting no on a list of nominees and that nobody is aware of it. Interesting that people know Gillibrand is on our side, but the ostensible minority leader is so wishy-washy that even people calling his office don't know his votes. (He has gotten more vocal recently.)

They also said letters do get counted and passed on to the DC office.

I of course got through to my Rep. That's never been a problem.

I told them all I was with Indivisible. Gotta get that name visibility!

Is it proper to block Supreme Court nominees that haven't been announced? I completely understand cabinet appointments that are terrible, but is it a good policy to preemptively oppose SCOTUS nominees based solely upon the party nominating them?

Off topic. You are not supposed to question the thread's Dear Leader.;)

livingthedream55 posted this thread: 20 Ways to Fight Fascism, which was originally written by a Yale University professor.

Number 1 is: Do Not Obey in Advance. Much of the power of authoritarianism is freely given. In times like these, individuals think ahead about what a more repressive government will want, and then start to do it without being asked. You've already done this, haven't you? Stop. Anticipatory obedience teaches authorities what is possible and accelerates unfreedom.

It described me. I've been following this thread, and taking many of the actions. But I was afraid to post, because I didn't want participation traced back to me. That ends now. Probably there won't be any consequences, but if there are, I will accept them.

This describes me as well. I think I have mostly broken through this this weekend. It was partially this thread that helped pressure me that way, and partially my husband posting something to Facebook about what we were doing this weekend that was a tiny bit over my anticipating-fascism-o-meter. Regardless, I've crossed my line. I spent two days at the SFO airport today chanting "let the lawyers in" and dancing to a brass band and then I posted publicly on Facebook about it. It's the Facebook post part that is the most alarming to me, but I think FB may be a necessary motivational/networking tool in the modern age.

:)) Yay Meepsy and cranberries!

Publicizing your actions helps spread the word and motivate others to do the same. Even if you need to do it anonymously. (Is there a way to retroactively decouple FB from your real name and email?)

For those like me who have GOP Senators and Congressman, thank them if they take a stand even if only half-hearted like one of my GOP Senators did. I thanked him for speaking up about the travel ban and urged him to fully condemn. Maybe if we also thank them when they show they have a spine, more might be willing to find their spines??

Yes this is important! Thanking any politician for doing what you want is useful, to encourage future behavior. Carrot not just stick. If you can get positive press in a local news outlet, even better.

On the topic of positive press: last night after I got back from SFO I saw coverage of the airport protest on one of the local news channels. The reporter had a serious agenda, and it gave me some insight into how to/how not to handle this if I am ever being interviewed in a similar situation.

The reporter was asking deliberately inflammatory questions about terrorism at a protest where people were trying to get legal representatives in to see green carded detainees. Crowd members were reacting dismissively and angrily to the out of context and inaproriate questions, and their anger was directed at the anchorwoman, but with creative editing it came across as dismissive and angry toward American safety concerns. Angry people saying "I think the terrorism risks are worth it under the circumstance" does not read well on TV after it is stripped of context.

If I am ever in this situation I think it might make sense to completely refuse to answer any question that is leading or provocative, or to just give a set answer to every question, i.e.: "Q:Aren't you concerned about the risks of terrorist attacks in the US if we let these people in?"A:"............" or A:"We do not have an accurate count of how many families are being detained here at the airport, and they are not letting lawyers in to speak to them". The best answer would probably be "That question is not relevant to getting detained legal US residents access to legal representation", but I am unsure I'd be able to come up with that on the spot with a hostile reporter and a TV camera in my face.

Today I made phonecalls to my Senators. One to support actions already being taken, one to indicate that one shouldn't still be "undecided" on Sessions.

I should note - I hate phone calls. They make my heart race.

But then I read about the bill to sell off federal land. So I called up my Congresscritter too. He's R, but has shown some inkling of a conscience in saying that the Muslimban wasn't well thought out, so perhaps it might make a difference. It's such a page out of the Russian playbook it is appalling.

I have done some small things. Mostly I'm pissed that Trump has forced me to actually vote, even though my votes will never result in a non-GOP elector, and are thus mostly wasted. But I had to vote against this idiocy. So I'm part of that huge majority vote surplus that were completely without representation in the electoral college.

The other day I got tired of having this big conflict between rooting for my portfolio's continued rise while knowing a large part of it was due to Trump's corporation-friendly policies. Yes, he will end up pissing some of them off, but the market has, so far, loved Trump. So I sold off all my S&P index funds and am in the process of moving them into a portfolio centered on green and renewable stocks. NO fossil fuels, nothing slimy or unethical (as much as is possible). There will be a headwind with Trump, but I'm invested long-term and now even my brokerage account feels a bit like political resistance. My pension fund is beyond my control, but the rest of my money I can do something with.

Agree with making phone calls to your electeds, both to urge them to oppose policies you disagree with, and to thank those who have already opposed them.

But phone calls aren't enough. Please find a local, physical office of your 2 senators and 1 representative and call to make appointments. If you can get in, it takes no longer than going to the polls.

A staffer will note your concerns for your elected federal official. The staffers are probably tired of listening to voicemails and would like to see your face. I'm seeing lots of reports on twitter of folks not getting through due to busy signals and full voicemailboxes. Please, get yourself in the physical office and deliver the same message you would have tweeted, etc. If everyone did this, who knows what we can accomplish?

MonkeyJenga, I have joined my local Indivisble group. I'm making phone calls to my senators and representative and urging family and friends to do likewise. I dragged my husband, a friend, and a friend of our friend to a protest of the executive order on refugees and travelers from certain Muslim majority countries yesterday. I talked my husband and in-laws into joining the ACLU Saturday. (I joined last year.) We've also added the National Immigration Law Center to our list of organizations receiving automatic monthly donations. I have no words of comfort to offer those among my students who have DACA status, are undocumented, are the children of undocumented immigrants, or who are U.S. citizens who nonetheless fear backlash because of their ethnicity, but I do my best to listen when they need to talk about their concerns.

I have also joined my local indivisible group. I also find that the Facebook page for my state's part of the women's march has been posting all kinds of local events and action items, so they're a good resource too.

I should've known that Captain Awkward would have tips on calling your congresspeople when you have massive phone anxiety like I do. Love that site! I have a REALLY hard time with phone calls, but I'm working on it.

Here in Chicago we've got marches coming up on Feb. 19 and 20 - going to do my best to be at at least one of them.

I just spent 2 hours meeting with my local Indivisible group's leader, who I happened to meet at the Women's March. I could tell she was feeling overwhelmed and I reached out to her yesterday, then today we talked and came up with a strategy for the group going forward. Lots of chefs who want to make lots of different dishes -- there are more than 2,000 people in the group! -- but we need to focus on the 4 actions in the Indivisible group guide and not try to reinvent the wheel on every single issue. Our approach instead is going to be ask members who are in other activist groups to liaise back to us and keep us posted on events and causes we might want to take up.

We came up with a good plan, I think, and I feel really glad to be of use. We have a meeting with the whole group on Friday (jeez I hope all 2,000 people don't show up!) where we're going to roll out our more laser-focused plan and deal with the inevitable community blowback on it ...

Agree with making phone calls to your electeds, both to urge them to oppose policies you disagree with, and to thank those who have already opposed them.

But phone calls aren't enough. Please find a local, physical office of your 2 senators and 1 representative and call to make appointments. If you can get in, it takes no longer than going to the polls.

A staffer will note your concerns for your elected federal official. The staffers are probably tired of listening to voicemails and would like to see your face. I'm seeing lots of reports on twitter of folks not getting through due to busy signals and full voicemailboxes. Please, get yourself in the physical office and deliver the same message you would have tweeted, etc. If everyone did this, who knows what we can accomplish?

And this important so I'm bolding it:

IF YOU VISIT YOUR REP, RECORD IT AND PUBLICIZE IT.

If nobody knows you went besides you and a staffer, you may as well have just called. You want people to see you there, you want local media outlets reporting on it, you want pictures and short videos on FB, Twitter, Snap, wherever.

MonkeyJenga, I have joined my local Indivisble group. I'm making phone calls to my senators and representative and urging family and friends to do likewise. I dragged my husband, a friend, and a friend of our friend to a protest of the executive order on refugees and travelers from certain Muslim majority countries yesterday. I talked my husband and in-laws into joining the ACLU Saturday. (I joined last year.) We've also added the National Immigration Law Center to our list of organizations receiving automatic monthly donations. I have no words of comfort to offer those among my students who have DACA status, are undocumented, are the children of undocumented immigrants, or who are U.S. citizens who nonetheless fear backlash because of their ethnicity, but I do my best to listen when they need to talk about their concerns.

Any advice on other actions for a tiny blue dot in a very red state?

Whoo!

One tactic I stumbled across: go to your reps' FB/Twitter accounts and see who's commenting. If someone seems supportive of the cause, invite them to join the group and check out the guide!

You may be a tiny blue dot, but there are many other tiny blue dots in your state, and you can find those dots and get the Indivisible word out.

You can also write letters to the editor and op-eds for your local paper.

Start making media contacts and sending them info about protests and office visits.

If you are fluent in a language that might be useful in helping/interpreting for people affected by the Muslim ban, contact your local branch of the ACLU to be put on a list of on-call volunteer interpreters for The lawyers who are working to help detained people at your airport.

I actually got my shit together this afternoon to call one of my Congresspeople. Two numbers, both with full voicemail boxes. So I emailed her. Again. Hey, if it's the only way I can get through....

Also, need to write and support the WA governor and attorney general for bringing a lawsuit against this ridiculous ban.

In other news: I've been reading a lot of people reminding us that when Trump does something like this it's often to mask something else. I can't find it now, but there's a FB post going around about this possibly being a "shock" tactic to get people outraged and lashing out so that something even bigger and worse can slip through. Since that seems to be Trump's MO so far, it wouldn't surprise me. Don't let people fall victim to this, don't let people lose sight of the war for the individual battles. And read Sun Tzu. You can bet Bannon has.

Lastly, this. I've been watching Zootopia with the Demon Child and lightly explaining some of what's been going on (she's hearing lots of grownup talk lately anyway, seen the news that my parents have on, et cetera) and I love, love its message. So applicable. This song is pretty kick-ass and it's not a protest song per se, but it is about getting back up again after a fall. Added to the upbeat tune, I kind of need it on replay all the time so I don't just wallow in "oh my god this is awful" all the time. So I figured, maybe some of the other people n here could use/enjoy the song too.

I read through Indivisible, joined my local group(s) listed on the website, and attended a happy hour. Since then, I've posted 5calls.org to FB encouraging friends who are upset about the Muslim Ban or anything else Trump has done to start making their voices heard. I scheduled time on my calendar and will start calling tomorrow (I keep forgetting to schedule time on my calendar to step away from work and make a call :/ ). Also, I've been actively reading news, making sure that I don't comment on "headlines" on FB without reading the whole article, watched Meet the Press, and even watched some Fox News to see what those who think that NYTimes is the "Opposition Party" are consuming.

Also our smallish college town (~50,000 people?) had a protest today. Organized in less than 24hours and ~500 people showed up. Not bad.

I can't yet do much here in the UK, but I Marched and I've signed the petition against Trump's State visit.

Sacking the lawyers who stop unlawful actions by the government is a very bad sign, y'all. The USA has elected a corrupt, fascist, would-be dictator. Don't rely on the existence of your constitution to keep you safe: ever dictator in modern history corrupted what was on paper a decent constitution. Your constitution will only work for you if your judiciary uphold it, and they will only uphold it if the cases are brought before them and persuasively argued, time and time again until Trump is impeached and the cronies around him prosecuted for their crimes (can anyone doubt that there will be some, and soon?)

Kelly Conway went on TV and specifically said the journalists who said mean things about Trump should be fired, and she knows who they are and have their names. So I'm not sure that it's a stretch to think they have the rest of our names, too, or will start going after them once they've gotten further along. I am fucking terrified right now, and I live in a state where there are good people running it.

It's easier to fight back now, than to let things run the course they've started, and try to start fighting back in 3 years.

I grew up reading the stories of hidden children (including of course Anne Frank). Corrie Ten Boom's _The Hiding Place_. The nuns in El Salvadore. Cesar Chavez. Dorothy Day. Archbishop Romero. Edith Cavell. Norman Bethune. As you can tell, this was an active religious household of a specific type that quite likes the current pope. Family friends were refugees from Central & South America (maybe not officially, but they left for specific reasons). We walked in a few marches, dropped pamphlets for a local environmental group founded by a family friend who was fighting against two high polluters in our city being allowed to expand.

I have never called an elected official before, or attended a political meeting. Being scared is the _reason_ to go out now. Because we aren't going to get any less scared.

In NY, too, Schumer was an appeaser until calls started flooding in and protesters showed up outside his office and home. He and Timmy Kaine are at 83% agreement with Trump.

Just an FYI, 538 says that there are too few recorded votes now for anything to be statistically meaningful. It will be a good site in the future as more things are voted on. But don't jump to conclusions. I'm pretty sure Feinstein is not a secret Trump supporter.

In NY, too, Schumer was an appeaser until calls started flooding in and protesters showed up outside his office and home. He and Timmy Kaine are at 83% agreement with Trump.

Just an FYI, 538 says that there are too few recorded votes now for anything to be statistically meaningful. It will be a good site in the future as more things are voted on. But don't jump to conclusions. I'm pretty sure Feinstein is not a secret Trump supporter.

Agree. there are only a couple votes so far. Feinstein just gave a blistering speech against Sessions in the confirmation hearings. It's pretty much falling on party lines. After her, Orrin Hatch gave a speech about how Sessions is an honorable man, blah blah blah. Leahy is on right now he is giving examples just like Feinstein did. It's live on PBS.

That 100% means she has voted to confirm all of his Cabinet nominees so far, including a holy war conspiracy theorist. It means she voted to make the ban on federal funds for family planning providers permanent, and forbid insurance plans from covering abortion even if federal funds arenít used for them. It means she voted to ALLOW THE ACA REPEAL TO PROCEED.

She may not personally be a Trump supporter, but that doesnít matter if she keeps voting for his people and his policies.

Blues in blue states tend to be complacent and assume their senators and reps will oppose Trump and the Republicans. If they donít, people need to be aware of it and speak up. These early votes matter. The response to the early votes matters.

This is important as motivation to call and act regardless of where you live. How many people have you heard say, I live in NY/CA/wherever, so it doesnít matter, how can I help out with red/purple states?

Dianne Feinstein is consistently awful, and the vote count is quite telling, but she did not vote for the ACA repeal - she was in the hospital having a pacemaker installed.

Other than that though - yes, she is a terrible senator, quite corrupt, extremely unaccountable to her constituents unless they are San Juaquin industrial farmers, and significantly more conservative than her constituents. She has a D after her name so she keeps getting elected. With luck she will retire soon. If we did not have thousands of higher priorities right now I would say it was time to primary her hardcore.

That 100% means she has voted to confirm all of his Cabinet nominees so far, including a holy war conspiracy theorist. It means she voted to make the ban on federal funds for family planning providers permanent, and forbid insurance plans from covering abortion even if federal funds arenít used for them. It means she voted to ALLOW THE ACA REPEAL TO PROCEED.

She may not personally be a Trump supporter, but that doesnít matter if she keeps voting for his people and his policies.

Blues in blue states tend to be complacent and assume their senators and reps will oppose Trump and the Republicans. If they donít, people need to be aware of it and speak up. These early votes matter. The response to the early votes matters.

This is important as motivation to call and act regardless of where you live. How many people have you heard say, I live in NY/CA/wherever, so it doesnít matter, how can I help out with red/purple states?

We need to keep speaking up and showing up so they keep fighting for us.

Added motivation to recruit new Indivisible members from your district repís FB page: my group is up to 52 members. Yesterday afternoon, we had 3 members, and 2 of them were my roommates.

You can also do this to get people into your stateís Indivisible group, by responding to comments on your senatorsí pages.

Go to red state senatorsí pages and reach out to the angry blue dots.

Go on liberal news sites and reach out to commenters there.

Leave flyers around your neighborhood.

Get creative and spread the word. Guerilla warfare this B*.

knee jerk reactions are counter productive, lets take a look at her actual voting record:

ACA defunding - She was in surgery and missed the voteVoting for Mattis - No issue, only adult in the cabinetVoting for Pompeo - Don't like him but what reason is there to vote against himVoting for Kelley - What substantive reason is there to vote against himVoting for Hailey - What substantive reason is there to vote against her?

Now if she votes for Sessions, De Vos, Perry or some of the other people who are unqualified you can make a point. So far she has voted yea for 4 picks, all who were in no danger of failing to pass and at least 2 were decent picks (Mattis and Kelley).

Today I called. Two ultra-right senators with no one answering phones through the ~10 calls each and no room in the voice mail. One representative whose staffer wanted my address, phone, and email (gave him my spam capture address).

In the last several days I've also marched in a women's march in the middle of nowhere, joined the local indivisible group, and found my mother's state group for her. There is no local currently for her, and she's not in good enough health to run it right now, though she was asked. She's active in Pantsuit Nation, though, and the groups seem to be sharing info.

Will try the senators again later. 5calls.org was very helpful, though it only gave me an option for three calls :)

I joined 100+ others today outside of our senator's office. I got to speak with his staffer re: Bannon with a nice personal story. She said I should also put it through the website as well. I thanked him for coming out against the ban (very weakly and non-committal, but not in support of... a start) as well because carrot+stick.

I also made a sign that says: "Illegal Immigration is the Free Market Response to Bad Policy"

I haven't been posting on this thread about my actions, but I am doing at least one thing daily. Today I'm going to a protest at the federal courthouse in Minneapolis. The FB event lists 7.2k as "going," so we'll see what that actually means in terms of real-body participation.

I'm shooting for a few things each week. This weekend I attended a refugee benefit concert preceded by a rally. I also signed up for a 5k run for refugees with the same organization for next weekend. I am hoping to attend a "conversations with Muslim neighbors " event sponsored by a local church this evening, weather permitting. Come to think of it, none of these things should actually be considered acts of political resistance, but I suppose you could say they are now. After this election took place, I became convinced that I had not been doing a good enough job of loving my neighbor, so I am trying to do better now.

MJ or others: My sister was asking me about apps. I thought I saw you post a bunch somewhere MJ, but maybe they were just websites? And now I can't find them.

Anyone have app suggestions? My sister was thinking about trying to make one, but I told her I was sure a bunch already existed.

My local Indivisible group is growing. It started as a FB group of a bunch of moms who were distraught after the election, but we made it non-mom-specific and it is now listed as an official group. We have had a huge success ordering yard signs- we are on our 3rd re-order. They say something like" In this house we believe: Womens rights are human rights, science is real, black lives matter, water is life". Its been pretty cool to see them popping up all over town.

We also got permission to "protest" at the city park on the busy intersection in town (small town.... only one main intersection) every Sat morning in Feb. We were given rules that are not to block the sidewalk, not to encourage honking, and not to go in the street. Should be fun. The women who did it last week said it was 95% positive feedback.

I am working on getting up a billboard saying "Where is Pat Tiber? No town halls since 2015" or something like that. He refuses to schedule a town hall. If anyone has wording to suggest, let me know. A former lobbyist friend thinks it will totally freak him out and get a lot of press. We are trying to push him hard on ACA repeal stuff.

"The women are all up in my grill no matter where I go!" There was another hilarious quote that I can't find now about "all the women who used to organize the playdates and carpools and now they keep calling me about the ACA".

I took Uber to the protest. On the way there, I spoke with a guy who was totally supportive and wanted to get involved. I told him about Indivisible and that he should totally join in. On the way back, I spoke with another guy who was totally supportive and wanted to join Indivisible and share with his friends. This is important because he's black and getting the message into diverse areas is a challenge due to social media segregation. I want everyone who wants to be a part of it out there protesting and involved in the process.

I had an interesting political moment with someone at the grocery store today. I got in a conversation with a woman who was generally politically savvy, but had been out of the country and somewhat out of the loop for three weeks. She asked for, and I gave, an update on the state of things.. And I completely overwhelmed her. If I were speaking to someone I had read as a complete political newby I would have censored myself more, but my concern is that by not pretending the situation is less dire than it is I may have cast myself as the crackpot overly intense political wonk with a doomsday outlook.

The problem feels very similar to how it was trying to explain why I had such an extremely negative view of Trump before the election, when fascism and nazism had become meaningless buzzwords. I have the choice to downplay the seriousness, or look a little unhinged.

Do any of you have an approach to this problem that works for you?

(What I did: in the course of a conversation that I had steered toward airport protests and Bannon, and the effectiveness/awesome community building effects of activism, and she had steered toward Putin, we landed at impeachment and the relative horribleness of Pence vs. Trump. I said that I thought that Pence would be less able to capitalize on the surge in popularity that will happen when they start a war. That was where I took it too far for her.)

MJ or others: My sister was asking me about apps. I thought I saw you post a bunch somewhere MJ, but maybe they were just websites? And now I can't find them.

Anyone have app suggestions? My sister was thinking about trying to make one, but I told her I was sure a bunch already existed.

My local Indivisible group is growing. It started as a FB group of a bunch of moms who were distraught after the election, but we made it non-mom-specific and it is now listed as an official group. We have had a huge success ordering yard signs- we are on our 3rd re-order. They say something like" In this house we believe: Womens rights are human rights, science is real, black lives matter, water is life". Its been pretty cool to see them popping up all over town.

We also got permission to "protest" at the city park on the busy intersection in town (small town.... only one main intersection) every Sat morning in Feb. We were given rules that are not to block the sidewalk, not to encourage honking, and not to go in the street. Should be fun. The women who did it last week said it was 95% positive feedback.

I am working on getting up a billboard saying "Where is Pat Tiber? No town halls since 2015" or something like that. He refuses to schedule a town hall. If anyone has wording to suggest, let me know. A former lobbyist friend thinks it will totally freak him out and get a lot of press. We are trying to push him hard on ACA repeal stuff.

"The women are all up in my grill no matter where I go!" There was another hilarious quote that I can't find now about "all the women who used to organize the playdates and carpools and now they keep calling me about the ACA".

Whoo! You should put #Indivisible on all the lawn signs and billboards. I wonder what the NYC apartment building version of a lawn sign is...

Ohh, people should stitch #Indivisible in black thread onto their pussy hats...

For the billboard, maybe have a Where's Waldo-style background? Or a photo of Tiber with the glasses, hat, and striped shirt.

I was FB-group-chatting with some friends a couple of hours ago and we were wondering if it would somehow be against the lease/upset the condo board to put a sign in the window of one's apartment. I have a pretty visible spot, with big windows overlooking an avenue.

I had an interesting political moment with someone at the grocery store today. I got in a conversation with a woman who was generally politically savvy, but had been out of the country and somewhat out of the loop for three weeks. She asked for, and I gave, an update on the state of things.. And I completely overwhelmed her. If I were speaking to someone I had read as a complete political newby I would have censored myself more, but my concern is that by not pretending the situation is less dire than it is I may have cast myself as the crackpot overly intense political wonk with a doomsday outlook.

The problem feels very similar to how it was trying to explain why I had such an extremely negative view of Trump before the election, when fascism and nazism had become meaningless buzzwords. I have the choice to downplay the seriousness, or look a little unhinged.

Do any of you have an approach to this problem that works for you?

(What I did: in the course of a conversation that I had steered toward airport protests and Bannon, and the effectiveness/awesome community building effects of activism, and she had steered toward Putin, we landed at impeachment and the relative horribleness of Pence vs. Trump. I said that I thought that Pence would be less able to capitalize on the surge in popularity that will happen when they start a war. That was where I took it too far for her.)

I don't know. I'm going on a short break with some friends this weekend, and I'm not sure how to handle this, either. They are generally liberal but I think I may be way more hardcore, and maybe read way more of those articles from exiled Russian journalists and the like. I know that if someone isn't ready to hear something and doesn't believe it, then they often just shut down if I start ranting. So, I'm going to try my best to keep it a bit light and make jokes to help defuse the situation, while putting a little seed in their brain to consider the possibility. Like, "it's all fun and games until Trump starts WWWIII with China, ha ha!" instead of, "Indications are that the Trump inner circle is gunning for a war with either China or Iran, and if that happens, I really hope he doesn't set off a nuclear bomb." Because option #2 just sounds paranoid/crazy and saying it probably won't stop it beforehand anyway.

Today I thought to myself, "I really sound like a tinfoil hat crazy person. I must be overreacting."

And then I review events. And I'm like, "I don't think so...."

But then, for instance, I learn that the Judicial Branch page is back on the whitehouse.gov site and I think, "um, okay, maybe I have been overreacting to things." (I thought it was suspicious that it was missing.)

And then I wonder whether we should buy a gun. Or store a shitload of cash in our home.

A friend who is a teacher made a sad update about DeVos on FB and I was like, Murkowski is one of your senators! Call her! Email her! Have everyone you know call and email her and tell her how horrible DeVos is! He responded (just now) saying that he'd done all of that. Well, at least we tried.

Isn't doxxing illegal?http://subliminalridge.blogspot.com/2012/10/understanding-barrett-browns-case.html"Doxing is always illegal, whether it is done against a federal employee, a state employee, or a regular person. There are federal and state laws that specifically address doxing government employees. With regular citizens, doxing falls under various state criminal laws, such as stalking, cyberstalking, harassment, threats, and other such laws, depending on the state. Since these doxing threats and activities are made on the internet, the law of any state may be invoked, though most often an investigator will look to the state in which the person making the threat is located, if this is known, or the state in which the victim is situated. A state prosecutor can only prosecute violations of the laws of his or her own state, and of acts that extend into their state. When acts are on the internet, they extend into all the states."

We have a lease on a place in Charleston for at least six weeks, so I guess these are my local representatives as much as I have any:Rep. Marshall SanfordSen. Lindsey GrahamSen. Tim Scott

Did you find a local Indivisible group to join? We're running Tuesday protests. Maybe one of your temporary senators has an office in Charleston. If so, I'd guess there will be at least one protest there this coming Tuesday.

I did find the local Indivisible group, thanks. Seems active, lots of information. Slightly chaotic but I think they are still organizing (and well, you know FB...)

Both the senators had full voicemail's all weekend and through Monday. I was able to leave a voicemail and reach someone in person at the Rep. office. Decided to head down to Graham's office in person to deliver a comment in person since their phones were jammed. Met up and joined a confirmation protest there for a bit and then left early to bike home. Good group of people there. Apparently I left a bit before someone decided it would be ok to start throwing waterballoons at a bunch of liberals

Still thinking about how to proceed further, but visiting people's offices in person combines my like of bike riding and annoying people, so that's something..

Just another reminder to keep this thread focused on actionable steps. If you share news, include related actions.

CanuckExpat, if you can pull one or two other people with you when you visit offices, it will give your visit more weight. Groups play better than singles. You could try reaching out to the FB page, creating an event, and seeing who's free to go with you. And record everything you're doing so you can post on FB, send to news outlets, etc. I'm getting all this from Indivisible, so if you've read the guide already this is redundant info.

CanuckExpat, if you can pull one or two other people with you when you visit offices, it will give your visit more weight. Groups play better than singles. You could try reaching out to the FB page, creating an event, and seeing who's free to go with you. And record everything you're doing so you can post on FB, send to news outlets, etc. I'm getting all this from Indivisible, so if you've read the guide already this is redundant info.

Feeling a bit frustrated that so many protests here are happening during the workday, in downtown Chicago (I don't work anywhere near downtown so cannot even drop by during lunch). Sigh. There are a couple weekend protests coming up in mid-Feb so those are on my calendar.

Someone started a Facebook group that's just for posting various protests happening around the city and suburbs. So I joined that. Seems like a good resource for keeping track of everything that is going on.

Contact your Repubublican senator, give your name and "I live in [your state]". Tell him/her to vote AGANST Betsy DeVos. Right now it looks like if one more Senator votes against her, she will not be appointed Secretary of Education.

Contributed to Merkley's campaign as a thanks for leading the SC filibuster. Upped my ACLU contributions. Left a message for Cuomo thanking him for supporting Roe v. Wade. Will add state senators to my call list tomorrow. Discussed these actions w/local Indivisible group.